Hope at the end of the world
by forthewords
Summary: Trapped in the cave, the group struggles to find a way out. Is this the end or is there still hope? Mainly focusing on the trapped characters (also the new characters, because I think they should get more of a story). I don't own any of the characters, nor is this spoiler based, just a possibility where the story might go. Enjoy!:)


"_We need to find a way out of here! Soon!"_ Kelly signed to Magna and Connie. At this point the group had been stuck in the cave for what felt like days, though it was hard to say since barley any light reached the bottom of the shithole they found themselves in.

Magna saw the look of desperation and on Kelly's face and touched her shoulder, forcing her friend to look at her. "_Hey, hey listen to me. We will find a way!" _She said soothingly.

Kelly stared at her, tears forming in her eyes. "_How do you know? What if there is no way out of this?_" Kelly insisted in a shaky voice.

"_I do, I just know okay? There is always a way!" _Magna tried to calm her down.

Connie, who had been watching them, brow furrowed, engaged "_Magna is right_. _We will be fine. We managed to get out of worse situations, remember the cowshed?"_

"_Yeah", _Kelly couldn't help but chuckle, though it came out more like a shaky breath.

"_What's that about?"_ Magna smirked. "_I don't think I have heard that story."_

"_When we were children Kelly and I were always visiting our aunt during the summer vacations_." Connie smiled, though it felt like that memory was so far away now, the world before everything seemed to drift further away every day. "_She was a farmer and she had, I don't know, like a dozen of cows. Of course all we wanted was to play with them, but she forbid it, because she didn't want us to get our clothes dirty."_

"_Look at us now! Aunt V would drop dead on the spot." _Kelly laughed and pointed at her torn and stained clothes.

"_So, one day, we told her that we would go play with the neighbour kids. Instead, we sneaked into the cowshed with a key that Kelly stole from aunt Vs pocket."_

"_I was good at that." _Kelly smirked proudly and Magna winked at her and whispered "_Me too._"

Feigning annoyance, Connie continued, "_Since I -unlike you two- was a responsible child, I locked the door behind us, so the cows wouldn't escape."_

Kelly mocked her. "_Yeah and then you dropped the key into a sewer. So much for respons.."_

"_YOU spooked me. It wasn't my fault!" _Connie interrupted her. Magna figured that this was a reoccurring argument between the two sisters and smiled. She remembered having sibling arguments with her brother. Before everything. Before she lost him.

"_So how'd you get out?" _Surprised Kelly and Magna turned to Daryl who had been sitting nearby. Noticing her family's expressions, Connie turned around and spotted Daryl. She looked at him questioningly and he repeated his question in sign language. Connie blushed, at the same time surprised that Daryl was able to follow the story and embarrassed that THIS was the story he was listening to.

"_At first we didn't. _Connie continued, looking between Daryl and Magna, who yet again had that annoying I-know-it-all smirk on her face. Shooting her an angry look, Connie signed: "_It turned out, that Kelly told our neighbours to cover for us and our aunt somehow believed that we went to Disney land with them for the weekend. After one very cold night in the cowshed, Kelly eventually squeezed out of a tiny window"._ Connie laughed.

"_Yeah, I had to climb on a cow to reach it." _Kelly added, laughing herself. "_She wasn't too happy about that."_

Magna still smiled as she went to take over the watch from Jerry, who was watching over the herd of walkers. Not that they could do anything if the walkers would manage to climb up to them, but it allowed the rest of the group to close their eyes for a bit. Magna was happy to see a grin on Kelly's face. Connie always managed to cheer her up and to be honest, they all needed it. The mood was, to say the least, not great. They barely had any water left and everyone was beginning to panic. Except for Carol, who seemed to be very busy staring off into the darkness. Carol, who had gotten them into this mess in the first place. Magna wanted to be angry at her, yell at her. But there was this voice inside of her that continuously argued: _It is not her fault. She didn't force you to run after her like some idiot. You should have been more careful, you should have suspected a trap._

Frustrated, Magna kicked a nearby stone. The expectable resulting pain that shot up her leg somehow brought her back to the reality. A reality where they were stuck in a cave with thousands of walkers. None of their friends knew where they were and that they needed help. _She doesn't know._ A reality in which they had checked every inch of the surface of the stone that had led to their both literal and figural downfall. It was as smooth as glass, not even the smallest creak to climb it. Apart from the stone, there was no other exit from the slightly elevated platform that separated them from the dead. After trying to climb back the way they fell in, which only resulted in a strained wrist for Connie and frustration, they discussed other options. Jerry suggested, they fight their way through the walkers, but they all knew they wouldn't have the slightest chance of survival. There were just too many of them. Instead, Aaron went to look for another way but he only found some water dripping from the walls. Without that water they would soon be dead, but if they didn't find a way out, they might as well jump into the walker herd while there was still a choice. "_Jesus, get yourself together!" _Magna mumbled to herself quietly.

They had agreed to take a break, to rest. Tomorrow, whenever that would be, they would decide what to do. Magna agreed to take watch, because she knew she wouldn't sleep a second anyways. She was amazed that Jerry immediately fell asleep when she told him she would take over, snoring quietly behind her as if there wasn't an entire herd of walkers 20 feet away.

Magna's eyes drifted over the walkers. She was sitting in safe distance, still but ready to jump at any minute. In the beginning, she jerked at every sound that was louder than the general background growling and raised her knives every time a rotten arm tried to get her. But after hours of watch she couldn't help it and her thoughts kept drifting away, spinning in circles. _Do you really believe what you told Kelly. That you can get out of here? Or Is this it? The end, no chance to see the sun again, no chance to see her again. _No matter what, she always ended up thinking about Yumiko. There were so many things that she had said in the heat of the moment, other things she never said. _I just want the chance to get it right. This can not be it. It just can't._

Tears started to form and threatened to spill, when Magna heard someone approaching. "_What'cha thinking about?" _Daryl asked and she was surprised it was him. They weren't really friendly with each other, barely polite to be honest. She wanted to glare at him, make him piss off. But instead she wiped away the tears and said "_Connie's story."_

"_Yeah." _He said, although his eyes told her that he knew this wasn't the truth. They also told her, that Daryl knew this wasn't at all like the cowshed.

"_Maybe aunt V will come check on the cows." _He said. So they were both thinking it. If the walkers wouldn't end them, maybe Alpha would pay them a visit. After all, she loured them into this trap.

"_Yeah, how's Carol?"_ Magna asked more harshly than intended.

Daryl winced, the pain and worry evident in his face. Magna felt bad for pushing it. "_Sorry", _she said, "_this just sucks."_

"_Yeah. It does._" He said. "_So how do we end it?"_

They were quiet now, busy with their own thoughts. Trying to find a solution to the unsolvable question. They didn't speak for the rest of the night, but Daryl didn't fall asleep either. In some way, even though Magna would never admit it, they were very alike. _That's why I don't trust him. I can't even trust myself. _Magna told herself. But to be honest, she was getting soft, trusting the others more that she planned to. _If you would have looked out for your family first, they wouldn't be in this mess._

"_It's time. We should wake the others." _Daryl eventually broke the silence. It couldn't have been more than a few hours, but Magna knew he was right. They wasted enough time already.

Just when she was getting up to follow him back to the group, she saw it. A small, barely visible ray of sunshine. So thin and weak, she had almost missed it. It was coming from the wall to their right, not far away, maybe fifty feet. Fifty feet of walkers, that is. But for the first time, Magna felt something like hope rise in her chest.

"_Daryl" _she hissed, grabbing him by the arm. _"What?" _he asked, suddenly turning around, alarmed by her tone and hastily looking back to the walkers, knives raised. She pointed at the ray of sunshine and immediately noticed the change in Daryl's posture as he understood. _He is getting ready to fight._

The hole in the wall was small, not all of them would fit through. But there was someone who was very slim, who could even climb through a tiny cowshed window. _There is always a way._ Magna thought, as she felt determination replace all other emotions. _And we just found it._


End file.
